Some classes decided

Eddie Mays reports from the latest round of the Tyco Healthcare Hamble Winter Series

Week seven of the Tyco Healthcare Hamble Winter Series, sponsored by Wet & Wild and The Clothing Room, saw a good racing day but as the northwest to north wind built to 20 knots it became bitterly cold, a sharp reminder that there is only one more week to the end of the series and Christmas is less than a month away.

The final outcomes in some classes have already been decided. Tony Dodd sailing his Quarter-tonner Purple Haze had won the first six races in IRC 4. This week he decided to race in IRC 3. The boat's handicap went from 0.875 to 0.920, the bottom rating for that Division. They had a real battle on the water with the Dehler 37 Mous'le and finished a creditable ninth in class.

Tension in the One-design classes is growing. Although slightly smaller in number both the Sigma 33 and the X-332 classes have improved in quality this year awith no clear leader after seven races. Richard & Valerie Griffith, Cerefe won the Sigma 33 class this week and are tied on nine points with Richard Puddifoot's Whippa Snappa.

In the X-332 class Jonathon Butler's win with Peanut closed the gap at the top of the table. Three boats, Glide-X, Pittolo Bill and X-to-Sea are within a couple of points of each other and have a realistic chance of the title.

The strong breeze caught out some crews. Most of the incidents were during the afternoon race on the Sportsboat course. In particular the Laser SB3s were involved in two incidents. In the first a crew member fell out of the boat but was quickly retrieved by a passing 1720 and returned to his rightful place. In the second, and more serious, there was a collision between a Mumm 30 and a Laser SB3. The SB3 lost her forestay and the Mumm 30 retired.

Next week is the final week of the series and and an additional discard comes into play. There could yet be some surprises, certainly in the two biggest classes, the Hunter 707 and the Laser SB3.

Class winners:

Class	Boats.com	Type	Skipper
IRM - Race 1	Alice	Mumm 36	Simon Henning
IRM - Race 2	Too Steamy	Farr 40	Nick & Anne Haigh
IRC 0	Jump	J-133	Stewart Hawthorn
IRC 1	Longbow	Prima 38	Army Sailing Assn.
IRC 2	Quokka	Elan 37	Peter Rutter
IRC 3	Aztec	Mills 31	Malcolm Goodall
IRC 4	Curved Air	Impala	Messers Morris, Mason & Sprague
X 332	Peanut		Jonathon Butler
Bowsprit	J Spot	J-105	M. Jacques
Sigma 38	festina lente		The Meakins family
Sigma 33	Cerefe		Richard & Valerie Griffith
Mumm 30 – Race 1	Offbeat		Ian Gill
Mumm 30 – Race 2	Moonshine		Jack Kelly
Cork 1720 – Race 1	Boats.com		Ian Atkins
Cork 1720 - Race 2	Boats.com		Ian Atkins
Laser SB3 – Race 1	Blonde Ambition		Daniel Geoghegan
Laser SB3 – Race 2	Spank		Nigel Olive-Jones & Matt Johnston
Hunter 707 – Race 1	Chilli Chaser		Ian Southworth
Hunter 707 – Race 2	This is Jeff		Harry Hall & Timothy Hunt
Sportsboat Rules - Race 1	RYA 1	J-80
Sportsboat Rules – Race 2	RYA 2	J-80